Skating out of the gate

Ready. Set. Roll.

The Rose City Rollers, Portland’s all-female roller derby league, kicks off the 2010 derby season at the Portland Expo Center on Saturday night.

The opener marks the beginning of the league’s fifth season and features all four of Portland’s home squads squaring off in tournament-style play.

The Rose City Rollers are comprised of nine individual roller derby programs. Four local teams, the Break Neck Betties, the Guns N Rollers, the Heartless Heathers and the High Rollers, compete against each other throughout the season. All-star members from the local teams fill the rosters of two traveling teams, the Axels of Annihilation and Wheels of Justice, to compete at regional and national levels.

Three additional teams offer local roller derby training, exercise programs and opportunities for teens to compete in the sport.

Saturday’s tournament will be double-elimination format, pitting the High Rollers against the Guns N Rollers, while the Heartless Heathers face off against the Break Neck Betties. The winners of each match will then fight for first-place seeding.

The matches will be abbreviated, with each consisting of a single 30-minute period, half the length of a normal match.

General admission tickets are available and pricing starts at $16. Arriving early is recommended, as general admission seats are not guaranteed. For guaranteed seating, the Rockstar section is available for $24. Tickets can be bought at TicketsWest locations or through www.rosecityrollers.com.

Doors open at 5 p.m., and the first match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

The Rose City Rollers are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports a variety of local charities, including the Portland Women’s Crisis Line, Oregon Humane Society and the Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer Foundation.